The Routty Math Teacher is a web-based company created to support K-8 mathematics instruction through blogging, collaboration, and instructional materials.

Thursday, February 11, 2016

BloomBoard: A Place for Educators to Learn and Share

As teachers, we are always on the hunt for really great resources. When we don't have exactly what we need at our fingertips, we usually take to the web and search for what we need using a search engine like Google. While it certainly can be an effective process, it is not always the most efficient one. If, like me, the web has become your professional library, I have a special treat to share with you today.

Recently, I became acquainted with an amazing website called BloomBoard. It is a search tool, but the results are collections, resources grouped together based on the recommendations of educators, like you and me. That means you can find multiple relevant resources for a topic in one convenient location. Can we say timesaver!

Throughout the month of February, over 20 education bloggers, me included, will be sharing our collections of learning resources with the world on our blogs and writing about how the collection powers our practice. The collections will either be ones we have curated ourselves around a topic of interest or expertise or just a favorite of ours from the new BloomBoard. You can check the BloomBoard Blog every Monday in February for the week's schedule of bloggers and follow along daily on BloomBoard's Facebook and Twitter pages.

My BloomBoard CollectionYou may remember that last year I wrote a guest blog post for Rachel Lynette's Minds in Bloom about getting started with math talk in the classroom. (Missed it? See it here!) Encouraging teachers to use math talk in the classroom has become a mission for The Routty Math Teacher and I speak of it often. I am a firm believer that when our students communicate about mathematics, their critical thinking skills grow exponentially! However, as both a teacher and a math coach, I do understand that it is a challenge to implement something with which you are unfamiliar, so I wrote the article to help teachers who were ready to take the plunge.Now, with the help of BloomBoard, I have been able to create a collection of resources that will also support teachers with this endeavor. With this collection, teachers all over the world will be able to access a host of resources, websites, print materials, and recommended books to get their students talking about math. Explore the collection! While you're there, be sure to sign-up, it's FREE, recommend resources for others using the "thumbs up" button, and save things for later using the plus sign. Happy Exploring!

After you've had a chance to explore BloomBoard, hop on over to meet the next featured blogger, Aaron, from Core Task Project. Here's a little bit about him:

I am a 4th grade teacher at Huffaker Elementary in Reno,
Nevada. Before returning to the classroom, I helped develop the Core Task
Project that has been featured by National Public Radio, the Gates Foundation,
American Radio Works, Eduwonk, the Fordham Institute, Vox, and the Center for
American Progress. In 2014, I received the Leader to Learn From Award for my
teacher-centered initiative and work to bring college, career, and civics ready
outcomes into Northern Nevada classrooms.

I started working with elementary students as part of the
Montana Reads program and AmeriCorps. In 2001, after graduating from the
University of Montana and moving to Reno, Nevada, I student taught at Rita
Cannan Elementary before receiving a 6th grade position at Veterans Elementary.
I moved out of the classroom to be a Literacy Coordinator, then an Instructional
Coach, and finally a School Improvement Program Coordinator. In 2011, I began
working on the Nevada Academic Content Standards in the district’s Curriculum
& Instruction Department.

I believe strongly that teaching content is teaching reading
and I make sure my students have ample opportunities to work with social
studies, history, science and art outcomes. I do what I can to blend the
learning for my students and this blog is part of that effort. You can contact
me at agrossman@washoeschools.net.